Appearance: The first thing one notices about Erika is whatever questionable outfit she chose that day - with a special mention for her artfully horrific T-shirts, her colorful selection of headgear, and accessories of dubious usefulness. The human specimen inside such wrappings is much less conspicuous, although not entirely unpleasant: a young woman of average built, brown hair and eyes, a pasty complexion; delicate features, almost childlike; a propensity for smile and laughter. She talk vivaciously, sometimes too much, always too fast. She's rarely keeping still: pacing, fidgeting, changing position on her seat if getting up for a walk isn't an option.

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Concept: Erika was called 'brilliant, but lazy' so many times that she ended up believing in her own brilliance. After a couple of decades spent trying out her supposed talents, however, she was persuaded of her lack of character as well. After studying Journalism with less than impressive results, and losing her first job at a press office due to her 'lack of commitment', she begrudgingly returned to her hometown. For a while, she worked for a local paper, focused on promoting events and reporting various curiosities. It failed shortly afterwards, but the experience left her with enough contacts to try her luck as a freelancer, writing about local news for anyone who needed them. It went well enough to move out of her parents' basement, to everyone's relief.
She claims to have higher ambitions: to move to any big city; to become a 'serious' journalist; or a writer; or something. By now, however, she quite likes her job: it is varied enough to keep her awake, and she does have a talent for turning trivial facts into stories one could actually read. She's in a perpetual fight with deadlines, but at least nobody is there to chide her for everything she does.
She has side projects, too. She always have some - and then a dozen new ones she plans every day. She started a few blogs, most of which were abandoned after a couple of posts. The one about urban legends, however, is miraculously still holding her attention after a year, and has a good number of followers.
Erika often wonders how, exactly, she ended up where she is. She feels it's not the result of deliberate choices, but of chaos, luck, impulsive moves she only rationalised afterwards.

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